My peer observation ideas and progress Diane Crefeld
B. Ideas (Jan. 30, 2013/30 minutes)
I wrote up my ideas and a plan for my peer observation. Contacted Sonia. Created my own page on the peer observation wiki and posted my plan there. Requested that Brenda review my plan and comment.) Proposal 1
I am hoping to become more familiar with the techniques and activities employed at the lower elementary level for beginning students of the Spanish language. Students come to us in third grade after two years of Spanish at Placentino. Sonia Merian and Germinal Isern are the two Placentino language teachers. I have contacted Sonia and requested to observe her class.
What am I hoping to learn?
1. I would like to see how Sonia manages the class. It is difficult to keep young students focused for very long and I know Sonia employs some strategies to keep their attention.
2. I am interested to see what Sonia requires from students as far as achievement level. Is she insistent on correct pronunciation? Do they mostly listen or does she have them repeat?
3. Students in the lower elementary Spanish classroom are not taught Spanish phonics. They are exposed to written Spanish but are not taught phonics directly. I begin third grade with lots of direct instruction in Spanish phonics so teaching without the written word is unfamiliar to me. I'd like to see some of the activities Sonia uses to expose students to meaningful oral language.
My plan
a. With those three goals in mind I would like to do an initial observation to get some ideas.
b. Work independently to create a lesson incorporating something that I have learned.
c. Share my plan with Sonia.
d. If possible have Sonia observe me.
e. Reflect on the experience
C. First meeting with Sonia and write up (1 hour)
Sonia and I had a great conversation about the lower elementary spanish program.
We talked about the philosphy of the program at that level and she shared some of her lessons with me.
We discussed how to proceed. First I will observe one of her classrooms. Then she will observe me. We decided that instead of her observing me in my classroom that I would actually teach a lesson to one of her first or second grade classrooms and she would observe and comment on that. I thought that sounded like great fun. To be continued ...
D. Observation of lower elementary school classroom (1 hour)
On Friday, February 15th I observed a second grade spanish class. The classes are 50 minutes. The teacher began with a calendar activity and talked about the weather. Then the class sang for a student's birthday. The theme of the class was valentine's day. The teacher read the book "El dia de San Valentin". In the book students were making valentine's. After the story students made their own valentine's. They copied the message. Options for things to say were noted on the paper.
E. Reflection (15 minutes)
It is often challenging to keep students attention. Sonia would remind students to look and focus from time to time. She demonstrated a lot of patience and brought supporting pictures to help students with key vocabulary. Her materials were all prepared ahead of time. She had multiple activities prepared and the students were able to move about the classroom to break things up.
F. Discussion with Sonia (15. minutes)
Sonia and I exchanged some emails and I shared my thoughts with her. I am now going to prepare a lesson and then she and I will meet to review my plan.
G. Lesson plan (20 minutes)
Sonia and I met to review the lesson plan for this Friday. Her lesson is about the countries where Spanish is spoken and their flags. Each student gets a country and a small flag from that country and will draw it on a piece of paper. Later they stand in front and 'introduce' their country and their flag.
Change of plans due to snow day!
G. Part 2 New Lesson Plan (20 minutes)
(Sonia and I rescheduled my teaching stint to another day. Fridays just weren't working out.
I am now scheduled to teach a Wednesday 2d grade class.)
The new lesson plan is about family. We are working on the basic family members (mother/father, sister/brother, and grandmother/grandfather). I will read the book Abuela which is a multicultural book about a little girl's thoughts about her grandmother. Then we will play a game. "I am going to New York and I am going with my ....
Comments: The book is a great book. Beautiful illustrations. I made flash cards for the different family members with pictures and then photocopied pictures of wrapped presents for an additional activity.
H. Teaching the lesson!! (1 hour)
I was so excited to finally get to teach the little ones. I raced over to Placentino and began my lesson.
a. I introduced the family members and practiced pronunciation.
b. I handed out a paper for children to label and point to different family members. (This turned out to be not such a good idea as Sonia and I discussed later.)
c. I read the book Abuela asking children to find the abuela and the nina.
d. We then played the game ... I am going to New York with ... I would assign students to be different family members by handing them the picture of that family member. That made it possible for the students to view the cards and repeat all the family members coming along without having to memorize the vocabulary.
e. During the game we marched around the room which was fun and helped support the notion of going somewhere.
f. After the game we all sat down and I introduced the pictures of the presents. I had colored them different colors to be able to distinguish them. We then discussed what presents the different family members might prefer. I would give students a few choices. Students were very involved in helping decide who got what.
g. The class came to a close and i said my 'adioses' and off I went.
I. My reflections on teaching 1st graders (20 minutes)
Whew! The students were fun to teach. They were super cute and most were enthusiastic and engaged. There were some challenges which made me appreciate Sonia's patience and hard work. Challenges: a. This class is a montessori class which means the arrangement of seating and the space issues present unique challenges. Sonia mentioned later that she never hands out papers in this class because it is difficult for each child to find an appropriate writing surface. Also, some of the students are coming from another room and don't come prepared with pencils. b. There is very little space for children to sit on the rug and the room is so divided that there are no large open areas for playing games. c. The walls in the room and the white board are covered with information. I was left with only a small space on the board to post my materials. d. All in all movement around the room is difficult. Things that went well a. moving around the room b. having something for the students to hold c. limiting vocabulary and choices Things I would do differently a. I would like to have pictures of things to discuss as possible gifts for different family members. b. I would like to give them a paper to trace a line from a family member to the gift we chose for them. c. It would be fun to have actual wrapped boxes and lift the lids to see what the different family members got. d. this them of 'who gets what' could be expanded upon in so many ways.
I. Comments from Sonia Sonia explained to me the problem with handouts later. She explained that other 1st grade classrooms have different seating arrangements that make it more manageable. She thought the lesson went well and liked the pictures of family members on separate cards. J. What I learned
I loved the experience and would welcome more opportunities to work with this age group!!!! It helps me better understand where my 3d graders are coming from. Thank you to Sonia and Brenda!
My peer observation ideas and progress Diane Crefeld
B. Ideas (Jan. 30, 2013/30 minutes)
I wrote up my ideas and a plan for my peer observation. Contacted Sonia. Created my own page on the peer observation wiki and posted my plan there. Requested that Brenda review my plan and comment.)
Proposal 1
I am hoping to become more familiar with the techniques and activities employed at the lower elementary level for beginning students of the Spanish language. Students come to us in third grade after two years of Spanish at Placentino. Sonia Merian and Germinal Isern are the two Placentino language teachers. I have contacted Sonia and requested to observe her class.
What am I hoping to learn?
1. I would like to see how Sonia manages the class. It is difficult to keep young students focused for very long and I know Sonia employs some strategies to keep their attention.
2. I am interested to see what Sonia requires from students as far as achievement level. Is she insistent on correct pronunciation? Do they mostly listen or does she have them repeat?
3. Students in the lower elementary Spanish classroom are not taught Spanish phonics. They are exposed to written Spanish but are not taught phonics directly. I begin third grade with lots of direct instruction in Spanish phonics so teaching without the written word is unfamiliar to me. I'd like to see some of the activities Sonia uses to expose students to meaningful oral language.
My plan
a. With those three goals in mind I would like to do an initial observation to get some ideas.
b. Work independently to create a lesson incorporating something that I have learned.
c. Share my plan with Sonia.
d. If possible have Sonia observe me.
e. Reflect on the experience
C. First meeting with Sonia and write up (1 hour)
Sonia and I had a great conversation about the lower elementary spanish program.
We talked about the philosphy of the program at that level and she shared some of her lessons with me.
We discussed how to proceed. First I will observe one of her classrooms. Then she will observe me. We decided that instead of her observing me in my classroom that I would actually teach a lesson to one of her first or second grade classrooms and she would observe and comment on that. I thought that sounded like great fun. To be continued ...
D. Observation of lower elementary school classroom (1 hour)
On Friday, February 15th I observed a second grade spanish class. The classes are 50 minutes. The teacher began with a calendar activity and talked about the weather. Then the class sang for a student's birthday. The theme of the class was valentine's day. The teacher read the book "El dia de San Valentin". In the book students were making valentine's. After the story students made their own valentine's. They copied the message. Options for things to say were noted on the paper.
E. Reflection (15 minutes)
It is often challenging to keep students attention. Sonia would remind students to look and focus from time to time. She demonstrated a lot of patience and brought supporting pictures to help students with key vocabulary. Her materials were all prepared ahead of time. She had multiple activities prepared and the students were able to move about the classroom to break things up.
F. Discussion with Sonia (15. minutes)
Sonia and I exchanged some emails and I shared my thoughts with her. I am now going to prepare a lesson and then she and I will meet to review my plan.
G. Lesson plan (20 minutes)
Sonia and I met to review the lesson plan for this Friday. Her lesson is about the countries where Spanish is spoken and their flags. Each student gets a country and a small flag from that country and will draw it on a piece of paper. Later they stand in front and 'introduce' their country and their flag.
Change of plans due to snow day!
G. Part 2 New Lesson Plan (20 minutes)
(Sonia and I rescheduled my teaching stint to another day. Fridays just weren't working out.
I am now scheduled to teach a Wednesday 2d grade class.)
The new lesson plan is about family. We are working on the basic family members (mother/father, sister/brother, and grandmother/grandfather). I will read the book Abuela which is a multicultural book about a little girl's thoughts about her grandmother. Then we will play a game. "I am going to New York and I am going with my ....
Comments: The book is a great book. Beautiful illustrations. I made flash cards for the different family members with pictures and then photocopied pictures of wrapped presents for an additional activity.
H. Teaching the lesson!! (1 hour)
I was so excited to finally get to teach the little ones. I raced over to Placentino and began my lesson.
a. I introduced the family members and practiced pronunciation.
b. I handed out a paper for children to label and point to different family members. (This turned out to be not such a good idea as Sonia and I discussed later.)
c. I read the book Abuela asking children to find the abuela and the nina.
d. We then played the game ... I am going to New York with ... I would assign students to be different family members by handing them the picture of that family member. That made it possible for the students to view the cards and repeat all the family members coming along without having to memorize the vocabulary.
e. During the game we marched around the room which was fun and helped support the notion of going somewhere.
f. After the game we all sat down and I introduced the pictures of the presents. I had colored them different colors to be able to distinguish them. We then discussed what presents the different family members might prefer. I would give students a few choices. Students were very involved in helping decide who got what.
g. The class came to a close and i said my 'adioses' and off I went.
I. My reflections on teaching 1st graders (20 minutes)
Whew! The students were fun to teach. They were super cute and most were enthusiastic and engaged. There were some challenges which made me appreciate Sonia's patience and hard work.
Challenges:
a. This class is a montessori class which means the arrangement of seating and the space issues present unique challenges. Sonia mentioned later that she never hands out papers in this class because it is difficult for each child to find an appropriate writing surface. Also, some of the students are coming from another room and don't come prepared with pencils.
b. There is very little space for children to sit on the rug and the room is so divided that there are no large open areas for playing games.
c. The walls in the room and the white board are covered with information. I was left with only a small space on the board to post my materials.
d. All in all movement around the room is difficult.
Things that went well
a. moving around the room
b. having something for the students to hold
c. limiting vocabulary and choices
Things I would do differently
a. I would like to have pictures of things to discuss as possible gifts for different family members.
b. I would like to give them a paper to trace a line from a family member to the gift we chose for them.
c. It would be fun to have actual wrapped boxes and lift the lids to see what the different family members got.
d. this them of 'who gets what' could be expanded upon in so many ways.
I. Comments from Sonia
Sonia explained to me the problem with handouts later.
She explained that other 1st grade classrooms have different seating arrangements that make it more manageable.
She thought the lesson went well and liked the pictures of family members on separate cards.
J. What I learned
I loved the experience and would welcome more opportunities to work with this age group!!!! It helps me better understand where my 3d graders are coming from. Thank you to Sonia and Brenda!
6 hours total participation so far.